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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Most Real Ministry Happens At Church, Right?
By Rev. Cindy Bates
Romans 12:1-2; 4-8 (NIV)
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
I want to begin today’s message with first a question and then an image. So here is the question: Imagine God thinking about you. Now don’t censor those thoughts! What does God think when you come to mind? Does it go something like this? “Once he stopped asking others and started looking inside, it has made all the difference.” “She has so much to give, I just need to help her see that.” “That one, it has been fun to see him wake up!” “She thought retirement was an end and now she has a whole new beginning!” “If he could stop looking at the door that is closed, he could see a brand new door that is wide open.” “Need to get that one off the couch.” “Once she overcame her fears, she became a rock star!” What does God think when you come to mind?
The image I want to share comes from Presbyterian minister, Craig Dykstra. He talks about an image of faith that he received years ago when he was in seminary. On Saturdays he taught 4 and 5 year olds swimming lessons at the local “Y”. He said those little ones needed to know in their bodies and in their hearts, that the water would hold them up if only they would relax their limbs, breathe deeply and rest, upon it. He said that image stayed with him as to what a life of faith is like. Faith is the knowledge of the reality of God’s buoyancy – of God’s upholding love and mercy present to us in every situation and circumstance in life. He said when he finally learned that, his life changed for good, and this poem, by Denise Levertov, became his prayer.
The Avowal
As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
Now, you might be thinking, “Ok, Cindy, I heard the question, and I get the image, but what has that got to do with a sermon series on ‘spiritual gifts’? Haven’t you heard both Harvey and Dale preach the last few weeks. Their messages have all been about being called to use our individual spiritual gifts in serving and ministering. Don’t you know we are trying to get everyone excited about discovering their spiritual gifts and then using those gifts in ways that will not only be transformative for them and this congregation, but will be transformative for people beyond these walls?” Yes, I do get that! And for me the connection is this: When we think about our spiritual gifts…it really isn’t all about us! It is all about us, and God, and that’s a big difference. If we focus on who we are, and what we have to offer this world, that’s great. But, if we think of whose we are, and what life can be in partnership with God, that’s limitless!
Today’s scripture says that because of God’s great mercy to us…(being with us, lifting us up, sustaining us, keeping us afloat)….we are to offer ourselves to God in service. That is how we worship God, and if we are willing to do that, God will transform us, inwardly and we will know….(know what is right, know what is good). The scripture goes on to say that we all have gifts…God given gifts…and when we use those gifts together, we love, we minister, we serve, as God intended. We will be fulfilled in life because we will be living for what we were created.
If we try to figure out who we are, and what we have to offer the world and one another we often feel like we come up short. “I am not very talented….I am not very creative….I am not good enough. Surely God will choose someone else to make a difference in the world.” You might even be thinking, “I’ll be so glad when this sermon series is over, because it does not apply to me!” And yet the scripture says something very different. We were all included when the gifts were handed out. We all have something to give?
There is an Hasidic tale told about our tendency to want to be someone else rather than claim who we really are. Rabbi Zusya, when he was a wise old man said, “In the world to come, they will not ask me, ‘Why were you not Moses?’ They will ask me, ‘Why were you not Zusya?’” Try to image God’s grace, God’s love, God’s mercy holding you up, so you can trust who you are, so you can float into God’s deep embrace…so you will not just float but you will swim! Then, we will be ready to talk about spiritual gifts. Then, we will discover using those gifts is not this guilty obligation because we show up in church, but is what will open us to what life is really all about.
So, the title of my sermon….Most Real Ministry Happens at Church, Right? That’s what I am supposed to be preaching about! And I think it’s a great question…and I think it has more than one answer. Several years ago, a pastor by the name of James Garlow did an interview for a video series about the importance of “church”. As he stood in the middle of an empty sanctuary he said, “The church is most the church when the sanctuary is empty.” In other words, ministry really happens “out there” not “in here”. I don’t know what the rest of his interview said but I hope he also said a little more about the importance of “being in here.” Coming together, worshiping together, I think, is vital for our spiritual growth and our lives together as followers of Christ. But I think he was trying to make a point that sometimes we think this is where we live our lives of faith, where we are kind to one another and serve one another and comfort one another and break bread together and study the teachings of Christ…all good even necessary, I think. But if we see our life of faith being lived out only when we are gathered on Sunday morning, church is a stopping place, instead of a starting point for a life of faith.
Anglican priest and author, Barbara Brown Taylor in her book, Leaving Church, says “By offering people a place where they may engage the steady practice of listening to divine words and celebrating divine sacraments, church can help people gain a feel for how God shows up – not only in Holy Bibles and Communion but also in near neighbors, mysterious strangers, sliced bread, and grocery store wine. That way, when they leave church they no more leave God than God leaves them.” I think what we do “in here” is crazy good! Our worship, our study, our service within these walls is phenomenal. And I also see us going beyond these walls serving in the community like Hank and Katy Tobo…so many of you who serve at Street Reach or a food bank or work with Habitat for Humanity. I know you are out there. But we still need those reminders “in here” that the main reason God created the Body of Christ, the Church, was to bring us together in community so we could be equipped to live our lives in the world. The Church “gathered” is so the Church can be “scattered” throughout our lives. One congregation put a sign over the exit that said, “Servant Entrance” so that everyone could be reminded that when they left, they were not leaving the church behind, but taking the church into the world.
I want to share with you how I have come to view “church” differently over the years. When I was in High School, my church was my safe haven. All my friends were there and it was a place where I could grow in my faith and have confidence in who I was and what I could do in life. Church was extremely important to me in shaping who I became as a young person. (It is one of the reasons I am so pleased we have such a wonderful ministry with youth in this congregation.) I would not have changed my experience in my church youth group. It was pivotal in my life. When it came to choose a college, I was a littler afraid to go out there in the real world. I wanted that same Christian environment that I knew, so I choose to go to a small, very conservative Christian college. Certainly not a bad thing at all, but there, I was taught that the world was a scary place and it was best to think of the Church as the place where God could be found. The world outside that college campus was a mission field where you went only to bring your converts back into the fold. We were so isolated in our Christian community that I basically missed the reality of the war in Viet Nam. I remember an outreach ministry that many of my classmates were involved in that sent a group of students off campus and into a local bar. The purpose of the group was to “witness” to the folks found there, to tell the patrons why they should not be there drinking and to try to get them to accept Jesus so they would be “saved”. Ideally, they would also convince them to start going to church. (I am not making this up.) I never participated in that ministry, mainly because I could never see myself in a bar. It was just too worldly! Flash forward, more years than I would like to admit. In the last four years, one of the most blessed, grace filled places where I have been privileged to witness to my faith, has been in a bar. Some of you know this and some of you may be hearing this for the first time, so please, let me explain. God really does work in mysterious ways. As a clergy person, I have not always been good about talking about my call, my vocation, to persons who do not know me as pastor/minster. A partial reason for that is, you would be amazed at some of the reactions and responses persons give to ministers after you answer the question, “What do you do for a living?” Most often, it is a real conversation stopper. I have actually had people on airplanes, immediately put their earplugs in, turn to the window and pretend they were asleep. I think they are afraid they will be bombarded by my witness. Unfortunately, we Christians don’t always have a great reputation when it comes to folks beyond the walls of the Church. And that’s unfortunate!
So, now imagine being on a golf course, paired up with some folks who were complete strangers, being 3 or 4 holes into a game when the golfers weren’t necessarily acting like they were in church, and the question came: “What do you do?” And then after my answer, a shocked golfer says to his friend, “Hey, watch your language!” Now normally, that would have ended the conversation, but this day was different. I think God showed up on the golf course. After a few moments, waiting at the next tee, the question came, “So, where is your church?” And then a few minutes later, “I remember going to midnight mass with my family on Christmas Eve. Do you have a midnight mass at your church?” Well it just so happened that this person owned a bar and he and his employees couldn’t go to church on Christmas Eve because they were working. When it was suggested that maybe church could come to them he said, “Oh, no you wouldn’t want to be at my place on Christmas Eve. There will be people in there who have been drinking and partying because they don’t have anywhere else to go for Christmas.” So, I talked with some clergy friends, Jerry Herships being one, and that was the beginning of now four years of Christmas Eve services at a place that has been known as Denver’s “best dive bar”. Now, you may think that might not be such a good place for one of your pastors to be, late on Christmas Eve, or any other time. But, I will tell you, that it has opened up a whole new area of ministry that has allowed me to relate to people, out of my faith and who I am called to be, in ways I would not have been able to reach folks any other way. So many persons never show up in church because within the walls of the church they have been shunned or felt disenfranchised, made to feel guilty, or felt misunderstood. You would be amazed at the number of people who say, “I am not good enough to go to church. Or, “I think God has given up on me.” Well, four years into this, I have heard confessions and requests for prayers.… been asked to do hospital visits and weddings and even a baptism. When persons found out our churches were reaching out to the homeless, owners of 3 different bars in Denver now have a collection day for their patrons to bring in donations of clothes for us. One day a patron asked me if my church was struggling in this economic environment and when I said yes she gave me money for St. Andrew. I am no longer afraid to say what I do when I am on a golf course, on an airplane or in a bar, because I have learned that persons, “out there” are struggling in life just like we are “in here” and they need to know God in their life, just like we do. So they need the church to come to them, because they will never hear the Good News if we just wait for them to come to us.
When any one joins the United Methodist Church they promise to be faithful, with their prayers, presence, gifts, service…and just 4 years ago there was a new promise added…witness. I think that new word is important in helping us not get too ingrown about who we are as a faith community. We can keep those first 4 promises right here among ourselves, within these walls, and be a wonderful place to come and belong…to be in community, that is so important. But if we are going to fulfill that fifth vow…witness…we are really going to have to take our faith, our gifts, our blessings, our service “out there,” into our life beyond these walls. Real ministry has to be both “here” and “there”.
One of the most exciting and challenging outcomes of our emphasis on being a congregation where persons can discover their spiritual gifts, will be not just how it will transform our life together, but how God will take our work and discovery here and multiply those gifts each day of our lives, if we are willing to claim them. The word, “witness” used to conjure up all kinds of negative images for me because I would go right back to the times I was asked to share my faith in a way that told persons what they needed to do and what they needed to believe in order to be “saved.” Then God helped me to see that I first and foremost needed to be me, not someone with a formula that could save someone else. I needed to first look within myself to see what God was asking of me.
This morning’s scripture says to offer yourselves as a living sacrifice…as a living witness to who you are as a child of God, who has been put here on this earth to live each day sharing, using those gifts we have been given to make a difference in this world. It’s a fulltime vocation, not just a Sunday morning obligation. God does not ask us to be perfect people, God just asks us to be open to be used by God, to be a witness to how God can transform a life. Then we will know the meaning of the word, “salvation.” Franciscan priest, and author, Richard Rohr, says it far better than I. “We are all partial images slowly coming into focus, to the degree we allow and filter the Light and Love of God.” As you go about your week, as you make your way beyond these walls, what image, what gift, what part of self, will you offer to be used by God? What does God think when you come to mind?